


Association

by helsinkibaby



Category: NCIS
Genre: Angst, F/M, Het, Mentions canon character death, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 08:12:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17443181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Ellie is in a bad mood. Nick takes it upon himself to make it all better.





	Association

**Author's Note:**

> I want it on the record that this was written before last night’s episode aired. (The Last Link, 16x12)

“Hey, Bishop.” 

Ellie’s head slowly turned in his direction as she shouldered her backpack, stayed completely inscrutable as she said, “Yeah?” in a tone that demanded, “What?”

Keeping his own face neutral was a challenge but he managed it as he approached her desk. “You ok?” At the question, her eyes went to up to heaven and her shoulders went up to her ears and that was an answer all on its own. “I only ask,” Nick continued, “because you don’t seem like your usual cheery self...” She met his gaze then, set her jaw and he took a shot in the dark. “Is this about Boyd?” he asked and boy, did that get a reaction. 

Wide eyed, wide jawed, she fairly glared at him. “No! God! That ended weeks ago and I broke up with him, remember?” 

“I remember.” Nick held his hands up in mock surrender, but he wasn’t lying. He remembered all too well Ellie coming into the bullpen and breaking the news to him, and if Tim McGee had caught him in a quiet corner a few minutes later doing some unholy combination of the Macarena and the Cabbage Patch dance, well, the other man was friend enough not to tell. 

Of course, that response was also a tacit admission that there was something wrong. “So, what is it then?” He pressed his advantage. “I mean, if you want, I can call Jimmy and he’ll take you out on the town and you can get into a fight and get arrested and get Gibbs to bail you out but I thought you’d rather avoid that.” 

He was going for humour but she didn’t seem to find it funny. “It’s nothing.” 

Nick frowned. “You’re a really bad liar, B.” 

Ellie stared at him for exactly four seconds - he counted, what of it? - then pressed her lips together. A glance over her shoulder, as if she was checking that anyone else was around, then she was looking back at him. Her face was pale suddenly, her eyes rimmed in red. “Fine. Do you know what day today is?” 

“Tuesday?”

The look he got in return would have withered entire fields of flowers. “It’s Reeves’s birthday,” she said flatly and Nick felt his jaw drop. He hadn’t known that. “Or at least it should have been.” 

“I didn’t know,” Nick told her quietly. 

“Did you know I have a photographic memory?” The change of subject confused him, took him off guard, even if that was something that he had indeed known. “I see words, I remember everything... but I can’t remember his voice.” She pressed her lips together again and in the dim light of the bullpen, he could see a shimmer of tears in her eyes. “I look at the picture I have of the two of us together and it’s like looking at two strangers... it doesn’t even seem like me.” 

“That’s just your brain playing tricks on you because of his birthday,” Nick tried. “They’ll come back.” 

“And what if they don’t?” That was a whisper, pain laced in every syllable. 

“They will.” He suddenly wished Jack was here, sure the shrink would know exactly what to say because he could tell from the expression on Ellie’s face that he was getting exactly nowhere. “Look, you want to go somewhere? Get some coffee, something stronger?”

Ellie bit her lip and for a second it almost looked like she was considering it. Then she shook her head, shifted her bag a little higher on her shoulder. “I think I’m just going to go home, crash out... it’ll be better in the morning, right?” 

“Right. Good night, Ellie.” 

The tiny smile she gave him was enough to break his heart and he watched her go, didn’t move until the elevator doors closed behind her. Even then, he was still for a long time until an idea came to him and, smiling, he headed to his desk and picked up his phone.

*

The next night found Ellie sitting on her couch, staring at a CSI Miami re-run and picking apart the forensic science errors in it. Which was to say, in no better a mood than she had been the previous day. She knew people had started to notice at work too, not just Nick, even though he’d done a better than average job of running interference for her. She’d caught Gibbs looking at her a couple of times, had noticed Jack hanging around the stairs a little more often than usual and all in all it had been something of a relief to head home.   
Until she got home and found herself alone with her thoughts and memories that she couldn’t access. 

She was jolted out of her self pity by a familiar knock at the door, a syncopated rat-a-tat that told her Nick was standing on the other side. For a second, she debated playing possum, not letting him in. Not for long though, because she realised he would have seen the lights on from the street and would know she was there. Besides, she wouldn’t put it past him to pick the lock. 

Sighing, she padded over to the door. “I’m not in the mood-” she began but she stopped when she took in the sight before her. “What...”

He’d obviously come straight from work, was still wearing the same clothes. But in his arms, he carried a large box, gaudily wrapped with at least three different sheets of wrapping paper. And not neatly wrapped either, oh no. Tape was stuck haphazardly on joins, corners of paper sticking out every which way. It was a fairly substantial box too, a couple of feet long, about a foot deep and a little wider and she couldn't imagine what was inside. 

“You gonna let me in?” Nick asked, his grin managing to be both cocky and unsure. It was quite the feat and Ellie stepped back, waved him through. 

“You got me a present?” 

Nick made a beeline for her dining table, depositing the box none too gently on it. It didn’t make much of a noise as it made contact with the wood and from the ease with which he carried it, she guessed it wasn’t heavy. “I thought you needed something to cheer you up,” he said and she took a deep breath through her nose so that she wouldn’t cry. She half expected him to tease her about it but he just smiled. A smile this time, not a grin. Something soft, almost tender. “Go on,” he said. “Open it.” 

She narrowed her eyes but she was grinning too as she stepped towards the table, began pulling at the paper. He really hadn’t done a good job of wrapping because the paper fell away almost instantly and when Ellie saw what was underneath, her jaw dropped and her breath caught. There was a very familiar logo on the side of the box, the words “party box” written in stylised writing underneath it and, beside that, three little words that had a lump rising in her throat. 

It seemed to take a long time before she could drag her gaze up to look at Nick. When she did, his face was distinctly blurry. “He used to have to special order these for me.” Her voice was rough, her vision clearing as she blinked and tears rolled down her cheeks. “How did you...”

Nick shrugged as her voice gave out, looking very pleased with himself. “I called in a favour,” he said and Ellie made a leap of faith. 

“You called Abby.” 

Nick chuckled. “I explained the situation. She was happy to help. Got me the box the second i hung up the phone, sent it here overnight priority shipping.” He shuddered. “I will be living on bread and water for the next month...” He looked down at the box, then at her face. “But I figure it’s worth it.”

“Nick...” She was definitely going to start sobbing if she kept talking so she covered her mouth with her hand instead. 

“Here, let me help you.” Nick pulled his car keys out of his back pocket, used one of them to slice through the tape holding the box shut. Pulling the flaps open, he reached inside and with a rustle of plastic, came up with a familiar looking bag which he tossed at her. “You know you want to.” 

Ellie didn’t have to be told twice. 

The aroma of prawn and ketchup hit her as she pulled open the packet of potato chips and reached inside, pulling one out and bringing it to her lips. The moment it hit her tongue, she closed her eyes and suddenly, she wasn’t standing in her apartment with Nick anymore. 

She was in the Scottish Highlands with Reeves, trying her best to keep up with him when hiking. They’d come across a tiny little pub on one of the trails, had stopped for a drink and a rest. Reeves had gone inside to order, leaving Ellie sitting at one of the outside tables, enjoying the scenery. When he’d come back, a glass of Coke in either hand, caught under his shoulder there had been bags of potato chips which he let drop on the table between them. “Never let it be said that I let you starve,” he said, a teasing grin on his face. He’d spent most of the few days they’d spent together giving her hell about her appetite. “I wasn’t sure what you fancied so I got one of everything.” 

Ellie had glanced through them all, finally settling on one that she’d never seen before. “Prawn and ketchup?” 

Reeves had wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, I wasn’t sure about that one. Seems all manner of wrong-” He’d stopped as she opened the packet. “So of course you just have to try it.” 

“Live dangerously, right?” Ellie had grinned at him as she popped a chip into her mouth and when she began to chew, when the twin flavours exploded on her tongue, she couldn’t help her reaction. 

She’d actually moaned. 

“Oh my God. These are the best thing I’ve ever had in my mouth.” 

She’d opened her eyes - when did she close them? - to see Reeves staring at her in unmistakable shock. When she’d realised what she’d said, how it would have sounded, she almost spat out the chip. Instead, she swallowed it quickly, coughing and spluttering in her haste. “I didn’t mean...”

Reeves’s laugh had cut her off. Loud and booming and unashamed, mirth rippling from every pore, he’d thrown back his head, clapped his hand to his chest and laughed and laughed and laughed. 

And Ellie had laughed right along with him.

With Reeves’s laughter ringing in her ears, she opened her eyes to find herself back in her apartment, Nick standing in front of her, a small smile on his face. “Well?”

She knew what he was asking, and it wasn’t about the flavour of the chips. She nodded, finding it easy to speak, as of the weight that had vanished from her shoulders had exorcised the lump from her throat. “How did you know?” 

Nick shrugged, took a step closer to her. “You food associate,” he reminded her. “I figured it anything would jog your memory it would be these...” His eyes fell on the packet in her hand, his nose wrinkling in pure distaste. “These god awful abominations that masquerade as potato chips.” 

Ellie laughed, the complaint as familiar to her as her own name. Smiling, she folded over to the top of the packet, placed it carefully on the table. “Thank you.” The lump was back in her throat and she had to blink rapidly to keep back a fresh round of tears. “You didn’t have to-”

Nick cut her off with a shrug. “You’re welcome.” He took another step forward and she suddenly realised how close they were standing to each other. 

Close enough that she could feel the heat of his body.

Close enough that he could reach out and touch her if he wanted to. 

Which he evidently did because she saw him raise his hand, saw it move towards her as if in slow motion, until his palm landed on her cheek, caressing gently. His skin was warm against hers, his thumb sweeping a path up and down, making her shiver. His eyes were dark and serious as they stared into hers and her breath caught in her throat as he leaned in slowly, like he was giving her time to pull back, like he was afraid he’d misjudged the situation completely. 

She made it clear he hadn’t when she leaned in to meet him halfway. 

Ellie would never admit that she’d daydreamed about kissing Nick Torres a time or two. She’d night dreamed about it too, dreamed about doing far more than kissing and she would never admit that to him either. And she’d actually kissed him as well, or at least Charlie had kissed Luis pretty enthusiastically. 

But this, their real first kiss as Nick and Ellie?

Was better than she’d ever anticipated. 

It started off gentle, tender, lips curled up into smiles as her hands found his chest and his found her waist. Him pulling her even closer still so that their bodies were pressed together, tilting his head so that he could deepen the kiss, his tongue tracing along the seam of her lips. She sighed into the kiss, opening her mouth to him and it was a surprise when, a second later, he pulled back, chuckling slightly. 

“What?” Ellie blinked at him, confused. 

“It’s nothing, it’s...ah...” If she didn’t know better, she’d call the look on his face bashful. But Nick Torres did not do bashful. 

Except when he did. 

“Prawn and ketchup,” he said, running a thumb across her lips. “It’s not exactly my favourite flavour combination.” 

Ellie bit her lip as her eyes widened in sudden understanding. She could feel a grin trying to escape, couldn’t do a thing to stop her giggle. “I’ll brush my teeth,” she began, taking a step backwards as well as she could with one of his hands still firmly planted on her hip. 

Much to her surprise, the hand that had been on her cheek curled around her wrist, pulling her back towards him. “Forget it,” he all but growled. “I’ll get over it.” 

His lips found hers again then and he spent the rest of the night more than making good on his promise.


End file.
